Chapter 11 Part I
At the center of a spacious hall sat five mages around a large white table that looked like a conference table. Stress was shown on their faces as if something was worrying them. The mages here were of varying ranks ranging from warrior mage to sixth-level knight.
“Your Grace, what was it that happened just now?”
The question came from a bald mage with a stern face. One of his eyes, completely blind, was hidden under an eyepatch, leaving him with one seeing eye. His voice broke the silence of the room. The other three mages turned to the one called “Your Grace” as they waited for an answer.
“Although it was a moment, what I felt was a powerful force, perhaps even greater than mine. Its power was like that of… a beast.”
The one called Your Grace replied with an expression of stress and concern on his face. He was dressed in golden armor with a tinge of black which shone brightly like a holy knight’s armor. Although he was already a middle-aged man, his face managed to maintain its gracefulness. He had a beard and mustache, and his eyes resembled a lion’s. Although the look on his face was one of stress, he still carried himself with the grace of a noble. This was Coven, the Duke and the ruler of Bernier.
“What!? A beast stronger than Your Grace…could it be a guardian-level beast?”
The man widened his one remaining eye in disbelief. The situation turned even more stressful than before. Beasts were classified into ten levels: low, middle, high, demon, warlord, guardian, great demon, grand demon, emperor, and archdemon. The wood surrounding Bernier was inhabited mostly by low-level and mid-level beasts while high-level beasts were sighted once in a while. However, due to rumors about demon-level beasts living in the heart of the forest, the area had become forbidden. Beasts of demon rank and above possess a certain level of intelligence similar to humans. Thus, defeating them was not as easy as defeating an ordinary beast. Even warrior-level mages would find them difficult to deal with. If there was indeed a guardian-level beast within the border of Bernier, then it would probably be the worst thing that ever happened to the city in several decades.
“This matter has not come to a conclusion yet. It is merely a speculation of mine. Order all men and soldiers of the Hargen Family to patrol the city. Pass my order along to the five great clans! Have every clan send their people out on a patrol around the kingdom all day and all night! Perhaps this has something to do with the incident where a herd of goblins attacked the Hobson’s people. If anything happens, report back to me immediately.”
“Yes, Your Grace!”
This was the state of chaos and disorder people all over the city found themselves in. Meanwhile, the cause of such chaos was resting comfortably in a hotel, restoring his magical power without a care in the world. Arias had lost a significant amount of his magical power from using his blood as a sacrifice to awaken the Shadow Demon’s power. He had lost not a small amount of blood. Luckily, he had kept the Moon-bathed elixirs for emergencies. After he took the elixir, it gradually helped to restore his magical power, and little by little, his injuries got better until they became completely healed.
“Finally, my power is restored and back to normal.”
Arias got up and inspected his body. Sparks of lightning flared from his palm when Arias was checking the power in his body. Once he saw that his body and magical power were in their normal state, Arias then left the hotel.
Before Arias could walk out of the hotel, Shuga the werecat ran up to him with a nervous face. Shuga had thought Arias was leaving early because he was dissatisfied with the hotel’s service, so she quickly came and apologized profusely. It took Arias several minutes to explain to her that he had an important matter to attend to and that he was not unhappy with the hotel’s service. Although it was troublesome having to explain himself to her, Arias became quite impressed by the hotel’s service. A small smile appeared on his face as he left.
Arias did not head back to the family manor after he left the hotel. Instead, his next destination was Cater’s shop. Indeed, the owner was too talkative to the point of being a bit irritating, but the place was uncrowded. What he needed now was resources to nurture his power. It had always been the purpose of his plan. Everything he did–potion-brewing and taking the elixirs to the auction house–was all for the sake of making money so he could spend it on resources for his power.
Once he was out of the hotel, he could see how people were acting oddly. Their expressions were still that of panic or even fear, while some of them seemed to be curious. It appeared that the strange phenomenon that happened a while ago had become the most popular topic of conversation, even though the incident had lasted only for a few minutes.
“A curse! This is a curse. It must be someone with evil power…dark evil power!”
An old man muttered over and over like a madman.
“Could it be that…there was a beast with a power stronger than the Duke.”
“Watch what you’re saying. It could get you in trouble!”
Two mages stood on the roof of a house and glanced around the city. The two were talking with each other with a concerned look on their faces. Both of them were among the several hundred soldiers of the Hargen Family assigned to look for any anomaly.
Arias’ brows furrowed. Along the way to Cater’s shop, he heard a lot of conversation about the strange phenomenon. He knew that everything was caused by Shadow Demon’s awakening. Although it was only a high-level weapon and still not yet fully awakened, Arias knew that there was a fraction of a second when its soul seemed to be fully awake, the howl of its soul rumbling all over.
“Welcome, sir! Oh, it’s you. If I’m not mistaken, you’re that brewer’s apprentice who bought some herbs for the beasts you’re raising, aren’t you? Come, come, come. Please come on in. What kind of herbs does your master want this time? There are some new herbs that arrived today. Would you like to take a look? If you’re not interested then it’s fine…”
As soon as he reached the front of the shop, the same chubby merchant came out to welcome him with an endless speech of his as usual. Even though he could feel a headache starting to form, Arias was starting to get used to this man.
“Hey! I think the two of us were here before this kid, Cater.”